Some assorted ramblings and occasional thoughts from Talib al-Habib. Updated randomly and irregularly (if at all). Talib takes no responsiblity for anything that he may write, as responsiblity implies capacity, and capacity implies a sound mind...

Saturday, November 04, 2006

A glimpse into some commentaries of the Burda

salams

An erudite response, by Shaykh Gibril Haddad, to a recent discussion about selected verses from that most majestic and beautiful of praises upon the beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him), the Qasida al-Burda. The author delves into six classical commentaries on the work - primarily regarding the verses quoted immediately below. In addition to clarifying their meaning, he provides a fascinating insight into the nature of traditional Islamic scholarship - incremental, layer-upon-layer analysis and exegesis that is surely unrivalled in religious tradition. It is also an signal indication that the Burda - and works like it - are not merely enjoyable and invigorating devotional poetry, but prized works of doctrine and spirituality that were taught at Islamic Universities with ijaza, in much the same way as books of fiqh and hadith.

the two "min" are "referring to the subset of a whole" (tab`idiyya) asthe language and context make clear. Min clearly marks off the set(`ulum), which is in the plural, from the subset (`ilm) which is in thesingular, indicating other `ulum that are also encompassed. It isincoherent to say that such subsets could be encompassed in part and notnecessarily in their entirety. Contextwise, this and the previous versespeak of [1] the undiminishable high standing and [2] abundantgenerosity of the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace. It would belukewarm iman, not to mention defective praise, not to mention poorcraftsmanship, for an Arab poet to conclude a poem of Prophetic praiseby suggesting limitation or incompleteness for such attributes. Hence,the correct meaning denotes encompassment as I had translated it yearsago, in what became the Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine:

For your generosity encompasses both this world and the one that comesnext, and your sciences encompass the knowledge of the Tablet and thePen.

At that time I had said:

They claim that it is wrong to say "and your sciences encompass theknowledge of the Tablet and the Pen," and that such encompassingknowledge belongs to Allah alone. However, their objections are needlessand far-fetched, since one of the meanings of the Tablet in the Qur'anis the Qur'an itself: "A Glorious Qur'an in a Preserved Tablet"(85:21-22), which Allah has taught the Prophet salla Allahu `alayhiwa-Alihi wa-Sallam and the knowledge of which He has guaranteed for himwhen He said: "Its gathering and recitation rest upon Us... Then verilyupon Us rests its exposition." (75:16-19)

As for the Pen, the Prophet salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Alihi wa-Sallamsaid, as related by Bukhari and Muslim, that during the night of hisAscension he reached a level where he could hear the screeching of thepens writing the Decree, and this stands for his being granted itsknowledge, and Allah knows best.

Furthermore, they are gravely wrong in their suggesting that Allah isunable to grant such knowledge to whomever He wills. We have alreadyestablished beyond doubt that the Prophet salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Alihiwa-Sallam was granted the knowledge of all things except five matters.This has been explained above in detail, in the section on `Ilm al-ghayband there is no need to repeat it here.

Imam Kawthari said in his Maqalat (p. 404): "Concerning [those] whocriticize al-Busiri for saying that the Prophet salla Allahu `alayhiwa-Alihi wa-Sallam knows the science of the Tablet and the Pen: neitherdoes all that is hidden, nor does all knowledge reside exclusively inthe Tablet. Therefore the denial of the knowledge of the Unseen does notnecessitate that of the knowledge of what is in the Preserved Tablet.The denial mentioned in Allah's saying: fa la yuzhiru `ala ghaybihiahadan "He discloses unto none His Secret" (72:26) presupposes exemptionof all that is excluded from "His Secret," signifying the negation ofuniversal disclosure [= no one knows all that Allah knows], not theuniversal application of such negation [= no one knows anything thatAllah knows]. Therefore the meaning is the negation of the knowledge ofALL the Unseen; not the negation of the knowledge of SOME of the Unseen.This was demonstrated by Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani in Sharh al-maqasid."

As for the Prophet's generosity which "encompasses both this world andthe one that comes next," it is clearly a reference to his abnegation onbehalf of his Umma in this world, and his intercession on their behalfin the next world: to acknowledge both of these is a required article ofbelief for all Muslims. And it is established in the hadith narrated byTirmidhi who declared it a fair narration (hasan), that Anas asked theProphet salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Alihi wa-Sallam for his intercession inthe next world, and he replied: ana fa`il, i.e. "I shall do it." This isa proof against those who claim that it is unlawful to ask for theProphet's future intercession while still in this world.

Al-Hamdu lillah, even then a fumbling pauper's love was enough to readthe Arabic correctly and be guided to some of the Aayaat and Ahaadiththat show the mendacity of that specific attack upon the Burda. Evenbefore I had sat down I instinctively knew that the writer of such anobviously inspired poem could not be guilty of what his attackerclaimed, especially in light of the latter's highly suspicious pronenessfor the anathema and tadlil of our Salaf Imams and the common Muslims. Iknew, even as a four-year old in Islam, that the Seal of all Ummas wasprotected from error in its `Aqida and could not possibly have beenpropagating wrong for centuries from West to East, and that Ibn Shamacould not have been teaching the Burda to al-Nawawi in Syria, nor IbnHajar to al-Sakhawi in Cairo, nor al-Sakhawi to his students in theHaramayn, nor al-Haytami to al-Qari in Makka, if there were even thesmell of shirk in one of its letters, for Ibn `Uthaymeen to crediblypropose, at the tail-end of times, a fatwa which said "Qasidat al-Burdacontains passages that constitute shirk" as quoted in theArabic-language periodical al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem published in the US(Issue #46-47, Rabee` al-akhira 1416 / September 1995, p. 7).

We can be even more certain now, as I knew then, that no conscientiousMuslim would fly in the face of the Arabic language, ignore the `isma ofthe Umma, and leave the company of the Sadiqin among the greatest Ulemaupon whom the Umma concurs, to follow some non-ma`sum teacher(s) excepta misguided muqallid who fell prey to his hawa.

I will quote from various commentaries of the Burda, again al-hamdulillah, which confirm one after another the soundness of the above, bythe following:

Some of the above excelled their respective contemporaries in the Arabiclanguage and they excelled also in fiqh and usul, while Ibn `Ashur andAbu al-Su`ud were arguably the two greatest mufassirs of the last fivehundred years.

1. Abu al-Su`ud: "Knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen (in the sense ofwhat is written on the Tablet through the coursing of the Pen) is someof what your knowledge flows through / has thorough access to [ba`dumimma jara fihi `ilmuk]." As quoted in Sayyid Hasan al-`Idwi al-Hamzawial-Maliki's (d. 1303) al-Nafahat al-Shadhiliyya fi Sharhi al-Burdatal-Busiriyya (Damascus photocopy of the Cairene ed. of the Nafahat p.204).

2. Shaykh Zadah: "It may be that Allah Most High showed him, upon himblessings and peace, all that is in the Tablet, and increased him on topof that also, because the Tablet and the Pen are created, so what is inthem has a limit, and it is possible for the limited to encompass thelimited. This is according to your understanding [O reader]. As for himwhose heart's eye has beed dyed with the kohl of Divine light, hewitnesses through spiritual taste that the sciences of the Tablet andthe Pen are a portion (juz') of his sciences, upon him blessings andpeace, just as they are a portion of the knowledge of Allah Most High."Shaykh Zadah's Hashiyat al-Burda in the margin of al-Kharputi's `Asidatal-Shuhda Sharh Qasidat al-Burda (Ottoman 1320 ed. p. 219).

3. Al-Haytami: "AND OF YOUR SCIENCES IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TABLET ANDTHE PEN, that is: Of some of your vast learning (ay: ba`di ma`arifika)which Allah Most High gifted you. [...] And the sense in which knowledgeof the Tablet and the Pen is part of some of his sciences, upon himblessings and peace, is that on the night of Isra', Allah Most Highshowed him everything that is in the Preserved Tablet and added to thatother types of knowledge, such as the secrets which pertain to HisEssence and Attributes, may He be exalted!" Al-Haytami, al-`Umda fiSharh al-Burda, ed. Bassam Muhammad Barud (UAE: Dar al-Faqih, 2003, p.666-669).

4. Al-Qari: "Min is tab`idiyya [...]. The commentators have saidconflicting things on the second hemistich of the verse. It was saidthat 'al-`ilm' is a substantive which is in construct with its subject(masdar mudaf ila fa`ilihi), that is: the Tablet and the Pen's knowledgeof things, but then we need to say that they possess perception andfeelings toward what was attributed to them. It was also said that'al-`ilm' is in construct with its object, that is: the people'sknowledge of the Tablet and the Pen, but then we need to say that thereare different positions here. It was also said that Allah Most Highshowed him, upon him blessings and peace, what the Pen had written inthe Preserved Tablet, which is the knowledge of the first and the last,and this is the preponderant explanation (wa-huwa al-az.har). To clarifyfurther, what is meant by the knowledge of the Tablet is what wasentered into it among other transcendent writs and shrouded images(al-nuqush al-qudsiyya wal-suwar al-ghaybiyya). What is meant by theknowledge of the Pen is what was entered with it into the Tablet asAllah Most High wished, so the construct implies the nearestconnection (al-idafatu li-adna mulabasa). The fact that the knowledgeof the Tablet and the Pen is part of his sciences consists in that his sciencesare multifarious, including universals and particulars, hidden mattersand minutiae, subtle wisdoms and arcane sciences pertaining to theEssence and the Attributes, whereas the science of the Tablet and thePen are only a few lines (sut.ur) among the lines of his knowledge and amere river from the seas of his knowledge. Then, in addition to this, itis from the blessing of his existence according to the report that wassaid to be transmitted: 'The first thing Allah created is my light,'that is, He looked at it with a gaze of majesty, so it cleaved in two,and from its two halves were created the two worlds. This [light] iswhat is meant by the Pen, hence the transmitted report: 'The first thingAllah created is the Pen,' so there is no contradiction. The upshot is:this world and the next are aftereffects (aathaar) of your existence andgenerosity, and whatever appeared out of the Pen and onto the Tablet isfrom the secrets of your wisdoms and the lights of your sciences."Al-Qari, al-Zubda fi Sharh al-Burda, ms. from the Damascus library ofthe Musnid Sayyid Muhammad Salih al-Khatib (also containing al-Qari'stwo treatises on the Mawlid), folios 54b-55a.

5. Al-Bajuri: "His saying 'fa-inna min judika al-dunya etc.' [...] minis for tab`eed. [...] 'Wa-min' in his saying 'wa-min `ulumika' is fortab`eed also [...] meaning the informations Allah Most High showed him,for He, Most High, showed him the sciences of the first and the last.[...] {The problem was raised that part of 'the knowledge of the Tabletand the Pen' are the five things mentioned at the end of Surat Luqmanalthough the Prophet, salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Sallam, does not know themfor Allah Most High reserved their knowledge for Himself alone, so theaforementioned tab`eed is incomplete? It was replied that it is notgranted that those five things are among what the Pen wrote on theTablet, or else whoever is entitled to look into the Tablet, such assome of the muqarrabin angels, would have seen them; and even if it weregranted that they are part of what the Pen wrote into the Tablet, whatwould be meant is that some of his sciences, upon him blessings andpeace, are the science of the Pen and the Tablet which a creature maylook upon, thus excluding those five matters} [curly-bracketed materialis largely from al-Qastallani], although the Prophet, salla Allahu`alayhi wa-Sallam, did not leave this world except after Allah Most Highdid inform him of those matters. If it is asked: Since the knowledge ofthe Tablet and the Pen are some of his sciences, upon him blessings andpeace, then what is the rest? The reply is, the rest is [to say theleast] what Allah Most High informed him of with regard to the states ofthe hereafter, because the Pen only wrote into the Tablet what was goingto happen until the Day of Resurrection and nothing more, as alreadymentioned in the hadith ['The first thing Allah created was the Pen, andHe told it to write, so it said, What shall I write? He said: Write theapportionments of every living thing until the Hour rises' al-Tirmidhi(sahih) and Ahmad]." Al-Bajuri, Sharh al-Burda (`Abd al-Rahman MahmudCairo ed. p. 132-133).

6. Ibn `Ashur: "The meaning is: how could your great standing diminishfor advocating me, whereas you are the noblest of all creatures in thesight of your Lord Who gave you exclusively the magnificent specialattributes that show your rank before Him, among which, that He createdthis world and the next for your sake, and also among which, that Hetaught you what no one else encompasses by their knowledge, to the pointthat what is in the Tablet and the Pen is some (ba`d) of your sciences."Ibn `Ashur in `Umar `Abd Allah Kamil's al-Balsam al-Murih min Shifa'al-Qalb al-Jarih, the epitome of Ibn `Ashur's Shifa' al-Qalb al-Jarih fiSharhi Burdati al-Madih (Beirut: Bisan, 2004, p. 164-165).

In conclusion, the statement that "The wording used by Imam Busiri doesnot specify that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) hadall the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen" is incorrect, and AllahMost High knows best.

I long to see the commentaries on the Burda by Imam Fayruzabadi andHafiz Murtada al-Zabidi, even more that of Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyyaal-Ansari, and even more that of Imam Abu Shama, the earliest of themall.

Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions.

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